From Farm House to the White House - 912 Freedom Library

Farm House to the White House, by William M. Thayer 13
to the commander-in-chief before Cambridge and Yorktown.
"We gathered together the bricks of an ancient chimney that once formed the hearth around which
Washington in his infancy had played, and constructed a rude kind of a pedestal, on which we reverently
placed the FIRST STONE, commending it to the attention and respect of the American people in general, and
to the citizens of Westmoreland in particular.
"Bidding adieu to those who had received us so kindly, we re-embarked and hoisted our colors, and being
provided with a piece of canon and suitable ammunition, we fired a salute, awakening the echoes that had
slept for ages around the hallowed spot; and while the smoke of our martial tribute to the birth-place of the
Pater Patriæ still lingered on the bosom of the Potomac, we spread our sails to a favoring breeze, and sped
joyously to our homes."
Mr. Paulding, in his life of Washington, describes the place as follows:
"A few scanty relics alone remain to mark the spot, which will ever be sacred in the eyes of posterity. A
clump of old decayed fig trees, probably coeval with the mansion, yet exists; and a number of vines and
shrubs and flowers still reproduce themselves every year, as if to mark its site, and flourish among the
hallowed ruins. The spot is of the deepest interest, not only from its associations, but its natural beauties. It
commands a view of the Maryland shore of the Potomac, one of the most majestic of rivers and of its course
for many miles towards the Chesapeake Bay. An aged gentlemen, still living in the neighborhood, remembers
the house in which Washington was born. It was a low-pitched, single-storied frame building, with four rooms
on the first floor, and an enormous chimney at each end on the outside. This was the style of the better sort of
houses in those days, and they are still occasionally seen in the old settlements of Virginia."
Irving says that "the roof was steep, and sloped down into low, projecting eaves;" so that an artist's eye can
readily see the house as it was.
Let the reader bear in mind that John Washington was the founder of the Washington family in America, and
George Washington was his great-grandson.
George was baptized on the 5th of April following, when he was about six weeks old. Mrs. Mildred Gregory
acted as godmother, and Mr. Beverly Whiting and Captain Christopher Brooks, godfathers.
When George was four or five years old, his father resolved to move to a plantation on the banks of the
Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg.
"There are many advantages in that locality," he remarked to his wife; "besides, the land is better."
"There can't be much fault found with the land anywhere in this part of the country," responded Mrs.
Washington. "It needs little but using."
"Very true; but somehow I have taken a great liking to the banks of the Rappahannock," continued Mr.
Washington. "The children will like the change, I know."
"That may be; children like change; a novelty just suits them," answered Mrs. Washington. "I have never
known them to express dissatisfaction with this place. They are about as happy as children can well be."
"There can be no doubt of that, judging from daily observation," responded her husband, somewhat
facetiously. "If a change does not add to the sum total of their happiness, I trust that it will not subtract much
from it."